In some enhanced oil recovery efforts, water is injected into a dead well to increase hydrocarbon throughput in an adjacent, producing well. The injected water approaches the producing well in what is called a “water flood.” If the water flood breaks through to the producing well, the fluid produced by the producing well will become contaminated with the water. Existing monitoring techniques (e.g., electric field measurement techniques) often fail to detect such water floods until they are too close to the producing well and have already begun to dilute the hydrocarbons that the well produces, resulting in significant financial losses.
It should be understood, however, that the specific embodiments given in the drawings and detailed description thereto do not limit the disclosure. On the contrary, they provide the foundation for one of ordinary skill to discern the alternative forms, equivalents, and modifications that are encompassed together with one or more of the given embodiments in the scope of the appended claims.